Autograph gallery in London to present a new photography exhibition exploring the work of late artist Rotimi Fani-Kayode

This autumn, Autograph gallery in London presents a new photography exhibition exploring a radical vision of culture, intimacy, desire and pain.

Featuring never-before-seen works from artist Rotimi Fani-Kayode’s wider practice, Rotimi Fani-Kayode: The Studio – Staging Desire will be on show at Autograph’s gallery in East London from 31 October 2024 – 22 March 2025.

In a space where the barriers between difference and fantasy are dissolved, Fani-Kayode’s photographs are a spirited exploration of culture, intimacy, desire and pain. From 1983 until his death in 1989, the artist lived and worked in Brixton, where his studio transcended into a sanctuary visualising Black queer self-expression.

A prominent figure in the Black British art scene, Fani-Kayode’s staged and crafted portraits playfully beckoning the viewer to embrace new possibilities of the self. The Studio – Staging Desire is the culmination of meticulous research into the artist’s archives, presenting never-before-seen works.

The studio enabled Fani-Kayode to live, be free, find love and express himself amongst London’s fluid, racial multiverse. With an emphasis on gesture, pose and a sense of longing the photographs he produced reveal a cosmos of signs and symbols to understand the dynamics of desire.

His transgressive and radical vision broke through boundaries of art history and Yoruba spirituality. These photographs reveal what it meant for Fani-Kayode to negotiate the status of ‘outsider’, turning this into the generative force that has defined the artist’s practice.

Professor Mark Sealy, Director of Autograph, said: “Rotimi Fani-Kayode was one of the most important artists using photography in Britain during the 1980s, uniquely working at the intersections of race, sexuality and West African cultures. He was an activist and visionary, exemplified through his involvement with the Brixton Art Gallery and as a founding signatory at Autograph.

“Fani-Kayode’s work has had a profound influence on photography, representation and radical thought. The new exhibitions at Autograph in London and The Wexner Centre in Columbus, Ohio pay tribute to his groundbreaking practise and politics.”